Lessons from my up and down tournament
Following a recent up and down tournament, I reviewed my play and decided to make some adjustments to my study plan. Here is what I learned in my review. In a later post I will show how I …
Read moreOTB Play
An up and down tournament
At a recent tournament, I played in two sections; U140 (1750) and U160 (1900). There were five rounds in each section. In one I scored 1.5/5 and in the other 2.5/5. With my rating of 121 (1608) you might think …
Read moreJune 2017 ECF grades
A week or two ago, the ECF published the June 2017 month end grading list. For some reason they still only update gradings twice a year, despite the technology being available to do it almost by the day. They certainly …
Read moreEstimating your Elo rating
If you play regular, long time control, rated, over the board (OTB) chess games, you will have a fair idea of your rating, or playing strength. I play around 50 OTB games a year, so I can place some worth …
Read moreLatest ECF Ratings
The ECF has finally published the 2016 year-end ratings. For those who don’t know, unlike the USCF or FIDE, who update ratings very regularly, the ECF updates official ratings only every six months.
I am very glad to report that …
Read moreReview – 2016
If I had to sum up the calendar year 2016, I would say it was a year of distilling my study plan and approach, and remembering there is more to life than chess.
Here is a quick run-through of where …
Read moreReview – November 2016
From a chess point of view, October was a non-event. I was away on holiday for two weeks, had visitors for a few days and spent a lot of time on work (a few big tasks all delivering at the …
Read moreReview – September 2016 – Tactics, tactics, tactics
I am glad to report that I have continued to stick to the undertaking I made at the end of July to not change my study plan for at least the rest of 2016.
This means that I do a …
Read moreChess Sets
Through an online training group I belong to, I discovered that in the USA players have to take their own chess equipment to tournaments. This is different from the UK, where clubs or congress organisers supply equipment.
I don’t like …
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